Rishabh Rikhiram says relationship with guru Ravi Shankar ‘most magical, intimate’; Anoushka Shankar says he’s not my father’s disciple

“I understand why he was like that. He felt he was in the country for very less time, so he wanted me to pick up as fast as I could. But it was the most magical period of my life,” said Rishabh Rikhiram Sharma. He even recalled the legendary British rock band The Beatles visiting his grandfather’s music instrument store on the recommendation of Pandit Ravi Shankar.

“The Beatles were coming from the Philippines, and they were stopping in India for some time. They wanted some Indian instruments, so they visited my grandfather’s store. But there was a lot of chaos there. There was George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and everyone. So, there was a full mob at the store. We asked them to go back to the hotel, and we’d get the instruments there. So, Dadu and his friends went there. They even documented and clicked pictures of them giving the tabla, the tanpura, the harmonium, and the sitar to The Beatles. It was in the late ’60s. My father would know the exact date. He has everything documented,” added Rishabh.

Rishabh Rikhiram Sharma claimed that his equation with Pandit Ravi Shankar was very personal as the latter would ask how many girlfriends he had. “He was the funniest person to be around. He used to crack such good jokes, such good wordplay even at the age of 90-91. Both veg and non-veg jokes. Rhythm and knowledge used to just ooze out of him,” said Rishabh. He recalled how Pandit Ravi Shankar would give him classical music lessons even at the dining table.

Anoushka Shankar recently claimed Rishabh had a very informal equation with her father. “I think there is some misunderstanding about his guruship. He learnt very intensively with someone very dear to me, one of my father’s senior disciples Parimal Sadaphal, and he had a couple of lessons with my father, very informally, with Parimal uncle also in the room,” she said on the Humans of Bombay podcast.

Rishabh Rikhiram Sharma, however, claimed he went to “Parimal uncle” to learn music only after Pandit Ravi Shankar passed away in 2012. “I was six when I met him for the first time. I used to hold Guruji’s finger while walking when we used to go to the centre. He’s been to our shop too. It was only when he watched a video of mine that he realized I’d picked up on the sitar. That’s when the relationship became more intimate and he started teaching me,” said Rishabh.

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On the other hand, Anoushk Shankar’s side of the story is slightly different. “We knew him from childhood because he was the son of our instrument maker Sanjay Rikiram Sharma. So somehow that has gone blown up into some story of him being his last disciple or the youngest disciple, which isn’t true. But he is super talented and deserves all success with or without that story,” she said.